


country roads, take me home (to the place I belong)

by holley_golightly



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Little bit of angst, Mutual Pining, Pogues (Outer Banks), Road Trip, Slow Burn, Summer road trip vibes, also sarah knows things y'all, and maybe john b and pope know too, but mainly fluff, expect fun and chaos to ensue, or texts because ya know Luke Maybank, smoking but like in the show, swearing but like in the show, the parents may make an appearance via phone conversations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27630130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holley_golightly/pseuds/holley_golightly
Summary: 'So, we’ve got a whole three months of glorious summer ahead of us right?' There's a couple of nods so knowing he has their attention, he carries on, 'and now we’re officially old enough to have access to some of the gold, plus it may be the only chance we get to do something like this… how about a road trip?'There's a pause.'You were right, Pope.' Kie pipes up, lying back in her hammock and disappearing from his view, 'it’s not the best idea ever. In fact, it’s probably not even the best idea you’ve had today, JJ.'//Pope's heading back to college, John B & Sarah back to Charleston, Kie's leaving to go save turtles in Australia and JJ's staying in the OBX so naturally a road trip as their one last hurrah is the best idea they've ever had.
Relationships: JJ & Kiara (Outer Banks), JJ/Kiara (Outer Banks), Sarah Cameron & JJ & Kiara & Pope & John B. Routledge, Sarah Cameron/John B. Routledge
Comments: 10
Kudos: 54





	1. OBX - Charleston

**Author's Note:**

> hello hello - it's been a while!  
> I kinda forgot how nerve wracking this whole posting on ao3 can be, especially when you're heading into new fandom territory but here we are and here we go...  
> hopefully you'll enjoy this pogue road trip post-canon au that hopefully will end up doing justice to what my brain came up with in the dead of night.  
> as always, unbeta'ed so apologies for any mistakes.
> 
> Title from Country Roads, Take Me Home by John Denver.

It’s the best idea he’s ever had.

It hits him as he’s opening the fridge to grab another beer for him and Pope. He would even go so far as to say that it’s even better than when he came up with getting the Phantom for John B and Sarah the summer they went after the gold (if he chooses to block out what happened afterwards when his Dad found out then that’s his business, and besides, it was worth it). He tells the others when he pushes open the porch door and heads over to them in the hammocks, beers in hand.

'I’ve literally had the best idea ever.'

'No you haven’t.' He should have known Pope would say something along those lines, I mean really he doesn’t even know why he’s surprised.

'I have.' He retorts back, opening a beer with his teeth and pushing it into the other boy’s hands.

'No you haven’t.' Pope continues, taking a sip, 'The best idea ever would be something along the lines of curing cancer or something to make people live forever or --'

'Shut up Pope.' John B’s arm shoots out and aims for Pope’s hammock to push him but somehow ends up rolling out of his own instead and ending up on the floor. Sarah flails for a minute at the sudden lack of weight in their hammock but manages to right herself at the last minute. She’s high enough that she starts giggling hysterically once she’s managed to ready herself and prevent any further damage.

JJ flicks both beer caps at Pope’s head to punctuate the statement.

'Ah fuck. Sorry.' John B props himself up on his knees and indicates for JJ to go on, ignoring his girlfriend who’s now making grabby hands to indicate he should be back in the hammock with her, 'you were saying…?'

'So, we’ve got a whole three months of glorious summer ahead of us right?' A couple of nods so, knowing he has their attention, he carries on, 'and now we’re officially old enough to have access to the gold, plus it may be the only chance we get to do something like this… how about a road trip?'

There’s a pause.

'You were right, Pope.' Kie pipes up, lying back in her hammock and disappearing from his view, 'it’s not the best idea ever. In fact, it’s probably not even the best idea you’ve had today, J.'

He doesn’t know what he’s done in a past life to deserve these people as his friends but really, they could be just a little bit more enthused. He looks back to John B who’s now stood up and pacing, running his hands through his hair.

'Hey now, wait a minute Kie. He has a point. I mean, come September me and Sarah will be heading back to Charleston, Pope will be heading back to the West Coast and graduating so who knows if he’ll even return –-'

'Hey!'

'Sorry dude, but it’s true. You’re more likely to get a graduate programme out there where you have connections. Then Kie’s off to New Zealand or wherever the fuck they have turtles –-'

'Australia.'

'It’s basically the same. And JJ will be busy going full fucking kook that he definitely won’t have time for the rest of us anymore.'

He knew he could count on his best friend. He appreciates the grin John B sends his way, really he does, but it doesn’t quite squash the hole that once again opens up in his chest. The same hole that has been there since he realised that they were all leaving the OBX and, by extension, him behind.

At least John B had made it seem like he had a purpose for staying.

He’s been ignoring the fact that it took him a long time to get used to John B and Sarah being gone and, by default, becoming a third wheel to Kie and Pope’s relationship (albeit a very short one) but he’d done it. Then, just when he'd felt some sense of normality again, they’d received a phone call from some unknown number in the Bahamas and he’d had to get used to another weird sense of reality. That was five years ago and since then he’s had to deal with Kie and Pope’s breakup (if that’s what you could even call the ten minute conversation that basically changed nothing), Sarah and Pope going away to college (he’s still unsure as to how Sarah somehow managed to worm her way into the measly bit of heart he has left and earn herself an honorary Pogue title. He thinks that maybe it was when she’d ran to him when she’d returned with John B, sunburnt and happy and with the gold in tow, looked him in the eye and said an earnest I missed you then threw her arms around him. He hadn’t even had time to be shocked before he’d hugged back), John B deciding to join his girlfriend a year later and then getting used to it being just him and Kie which, if he’s being completely honest, he wasn’t that upset about.

He walks over and slides into the hammock he had previously vacated, the girl in question rolling over and curling into his side. A position they’ve found themselves in too often to count. He knows that they’ve grown far too comfortable with each other over the past two years, so much so that it’s become second nature to fend off questions about when they’re going to settle down whenever they see someone they know in town.

(John B had thought this was hilarious the first time it had happened in his presence but, after the fourth or fifth time someone had commented, he’d pulled him aside and made him promise that nothing was going on. He still isn’t sure whether or not he’d been annoyed at the lack of trust John B had had in him at the time.)

He knows that this time it’s going to take him even longer to get used to being on his own because Kie’s not going to be around, persuading him to get up and go surfing or wanting to throw a kegger, or go for a walk, or anything that doesn’t involve day drinking until it’s time to go to sleep and then doing it on repeat again the day after. He’s already had to promise her multiple times that he’s not going to do that again.

( _‘I’m not dying JJ, you can call me and I can still make you do those things over the phone you know!’_ )

He smiles to himself slightly as Kie subconsciously nudges closer. They’ve had many discussions over the past couple months about her leaving and him staying here (privately he calls them arguments, but he’d never say that to her face). They’d stopped talking for two days after one particularly bad night but she’d turned up at the crack of dawn on the third day looking sheepish and told him that she’d stop asking him to go with her, if he at least promised to think about it. He’d nodded before she pulled him into a hug, he would have agreed to anything at that moment just to have her talking to him again.

'I like the idea.' Sarah pipes up, agreeing with John B, 'I mean, we’ve got the funds, we’ve got the Twinkie, we’re 21, we can go anywhere, do anything--'

'--within reason.'

'Yes ok, within reason, _thank you_ Pope. Does this mean you’re a yes too?'

There’s a slight huff followed by, 'Yeah, I guess so.'

John B and Sarah whoop in delight.

'Wait. Does this mean I can make a road trip playlist?' Sarah looks over to JJ who shrugs and takes a sip of his beer. 'I’ll take that as a yes!'

She shoots up out of her hammock, stumbles slightly before grabbing John B’s hand and dragging him into the Chateau where, he presumes, she’s now on the hunt for her phone. Pope stands up too and heads after them, muttering something about his friends and how he always gets roped into things but there’s no heat in his words. JJ grins and brings one of his arms behind his head, causing Kiara to fall more into his side, the other still clutching his beer.

'Hey, you haven’t voiced your opinion yet.' His eyes flicker down to her face where she’s looking off into the distance, not really focusing on anything, 'Kie?'

'Hmm, what?' She blinks a couple of times, her eyes refocusing and looking back up at him, 'Sorry, what did you say?'

He grins, 'How much weed have you had?'

'Fuck off. No more than you but definitely more than Sarah who really should have developed more of a tolerance for it by now.' Her words are punctuated by another loud, high pitched laugh from indoors, 'I guarantee that wasn’t anywhere near as funny as it sounds.'

He shakes his head, but he knows there’s no malice in her words as there once would have been. He’s still not entirely sure what went on between them both during her Kook year but whatever it was, it’s now long dead and buried and Kie seems happier for it which is something he’ll always be grateful for.

'Ok, but - what about the road trip?'

She smiles, rolling her eyes at his impatience, 'I’m in. It was never a question.'

'Good.' Then pauses, his beer halfway to his lips as he looks down at her again, 'are you sure your parents are gonna be ok with you running off with the four of us?'

Her smile turns into a grimace as she pushes herself up and off him, 'As much as it pains me, if Sarah’s going then I don’t think it’ll be a problem. I’ll tell them I’ll be with her 24/7.'

'Just don’t tell that to John B, he’ll think you’re a threat to his relationship or something.'

He grins, his eyes following her as she treks back to the Chateau, turning into full blown laughter as she throws her middle finger up at him without turning round and disappears inside.

\---

And that’s how, one week and twenty four discussions over the route, food and where they’d be staying later, the five Pogues found themselves piling into the Twinkie with backpacks filled to the brim, snacks to last for days and surfboards strapped to the roof.

(JJ had refused to back down when it was suggested that maybe they could hire them instead - _‘such a waste of money Kie when we have perfectly decent boards that we can take with us’_ \- he had also refused to acknowledge Pope’s snort at the word decent.)

He’d offered to drive first, it had been his idea after all, and he couldn’t wait to get started. He’d been on holiday once before with his Mom when he was 8 to visit some far off relatives but since then the most he’d travelled far from home was getting the ferry to the mainland, there was no such thing as spare money for gallivanting when you were too busy living from pay cheque to pay cheque. He hadn’t told the others any of this, but he sensed that they probably knew how important this was to him anyway.

‘Is it bad if I crack open the snacks yet?’

‘Yes, John B, we have been on the road for 40 minutes.’

‘But Sarah, I’m absolutely starving! It’s been so long since I last ate, I think I might waste away…’

‘The last time you ate was literally 45 minutes ago when I told you to finish your sandwich before we left.’

‘Yelled.’

‘What?’

‘You said ‘told’ when actually you meant ‘yelled.’

'I never -–'

JJ shook his head as he settled back into the driver’s seat, one hand on the wheel and the other resting on the open window, tuning out the bickering coming from the back seat. A quick glance in the rear view mirror showed that Pope had pulled his hood over his head and had curled up away from the arguing couple.

‘I swear to God he can literally sleep anywhere.’ He glances over at Kie, who had also been distracted by the back seat before turning and continuing to queue songs for the first lap of the journey. They’d agreed in advance that John B and Sarah would be co-pilots then him and Kie for their respective laps of the journey, with Pope as back up should any of them get tired. ‘So much for him offering support if I decide to have a nap.’

He laughs and she looks over at him in surprise, her eyes roaming his face.

'What?' His spare hand comes up to pull his cap up and then back down again, he knows it’s a nervous habit but that doesn’t stop him doing it anyway.

'Nothing. Just that, well, I think this is the first time since John B and Sarah came back that I’ve seen you look this happy. I know for sure that I’ve not heard you laugh like that for a long time.’

He thinks to himself that she probably hasn’t. He’s got his friends, the only family he has left is far behind where he can’t touch him, he has food, water, gas and nothing but road for miles ahead. He shrugs, his face transforming into his signature grin.

‘Hey, what does John B always say?’

His eyes flicker once back to her before looking back ahead as she laughs then answers, ‘Our mission this summer is to have a good time, all the time.’

And that’s exactly what he intends to do.


	2. Charleston - Knoxville - Nashville

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the feedback on the last chapter - your kudos and comments are much appreciated :)  
> Sorry it took way longer to update than I originally thought, what with Christmas and New Year in the mix, but please enjoy this monstrosity of a chapter to make up for it! 
> 
> Once again unbeta'ed so apologies for any mistakes.  
> 

Sometimes she wonders why she chose to hang around with three complete and total idiot boys (give or take Pope and whether or not he gives into the peer pressure at any particular moment in time) but then one of them will pull her into a hug even she didn’t know she needed, or offer to pick up some Hershey’s Kisses from the store (basic as fuck, she knows, but she also doesn’t care), or just sit and offer her a beer and let her talk about saving the environment without saying anything, and she knows that she wouldn’t trade them for the world. 

Today is not one of those days. 

‘John B, I swear to God if you do not get your ass out the shower right this instant, I will do things to you that will make you wish you had never been born.’ 

The shower water shuts off and for a moment she thinks that maybe he’s actually listened to her for once before she hears a phone speaker begin blasting out music and the water switch back on. She screams in frustration. Throwing her towel around her shoulders, she turns around and stomps back down the corridor to her room, questioning why she’d even agreed to this trip in the first place. 

It’s day two and already she’s refusing to even so much as entertain the idea that she thought that this was going to be fun. Ever since last night it seemed like one thing had gone wrong after another. They’d decided that their first stop would be Charleston, mainly because it seemed like a good place to have their first stop of the trip, Sarah and John B already knew parts of it, and also because it wasn’t too far from the OBX (around six to seven hours as Pope had informed them when he’d woken up midway through JJ’s driving stint yesterday afternoon and asked if they should maybe swap otherwise he’d be too tired from driving to explore. JJ had muttered something about not exploring anything involving history or shopping with a dark look to both Sarah and Pope in the back seat but had pulled over at the next stop anyway). They’d begun to get grouchy around hour four as the sun began to set and dusk set in, and by the time they’d reached Charleston all five of them were in the mood for food then sleep, and nothing else. 

They’d all agreed in advance about booking a hostel for the first night, which she admits had seemed reasonable at the time, but she was beginning to regret that now too. The hostel Pope and Sarah had picked looked nice from the outside but inside was a different story. Sure, she likes the Chateau and, as her parents would say, slumming it with her boys, but she also likes beds that don’t have sheets with dubious stains on. She’d spent half the night sat up, afraid to touch anything, and she’d had to bite her lip to stop from muttering something about how ‘Tripadvisor is our friend, not our enemy,’ and that ‘the guides were there for a reason’ to anyone during the past 12 hours, mainly because she knew that John B and JJ would certainly say something about how much of a Kook she was being and she didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. Sure, her and Sarah had patched up their differences and now she didn’t mind so much about having one foot in the Cut and one foot in Figure 8, but it still stung a little every time someone mentioned her Kook year and how she’d abandoned her boys. 

It had not been a good start. She was tired and hungry and had decided, upon waking from the very few hours of sleep she’d managed to get, that she wanted nothing more than to step into a shower and forget where she was for the foreseeable future - something that was now also out of reach thanks to her idiot so-called best friend.

‘Woah!’ She stumbles back as she bumps into a 6ft something hard chest, ‘Kie? You ok?’ 

Of fucking course it was JJ. 

‘Fine.’ She growls back, not in the mood to even try and be nice, ‘But just so you know I will no longer be speaking to John B for the foreseeable future.’ 

The blonde boy in front of her doesn’t even try to hide the grin that begins to take over his face, eyebrows raising as his eyes flicker over her, before glancing at the shut door over her shoulder which leads to the one ( _one!)_ shower in the whole place. 

‘Is he spending hours washing his luscious locks again?’ 

‘JJ,’ she shuts her eyes and summons the one single scrap of patience she has left, ‘fucking don’t.’ 

‘You know Kie, sometimes it’s like you want to be annoyed with us.’ 

She knows committing murder is a sin, really she does, so instead settles for rolling her eyes and making to push past him in the hope that she could maybe have a twenty minute nap in the Twinkie before it’s needed again. She makes it almost all the way past him before she feels JJ’s hand reach out and grab her arm. 

‘Don’t touch me.’ She grounds out and then stops, immediately shaken out of her mood when his hand drops like he’s touched fire, ‘Shit JJ, sorry. I didn’t mean… look, I didn’t sleep well last night because there were some serious issues with the bedding and I’m hungry and I just want a shower to wash my hair so I can actually salvage this wreck of a day and I just,’ she pauses, ‘I’m sorry. I know you would never hurt me - you didn’t hurt me, I don’t even know why I reacted like that.’

She meets his gaze as it settles back on her rather than on an empty spot just past her right ear.

‘I know.’ His arm reaches up and he rubs the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable (she could kick herself for even putting him in this situation), then drops it again as he shrugs, ‘listen, how about we get out of here?’ 

‘What?’ She’s frowning at him now. Her brain, already muddled from lack of sleep, finding it hard to keep up with the change in conversation. 

‘I mean, you’re not enjoying this are you?’ 

‘What? No! Of course I am. I’m just... not enjoying this particular hostel at this exact point in time.’ She trails off, loathed to point out that actually he’s correct and she’s been cursing his road trip idea ever since this morning ( _last night_ ). 

He smiles at her again, her previous outburst pushed aside and forgotten for the time being. ‘So I heard that Folly Beach is the place to go to surf around here.’ 

She sighs but she can feel her face already transforming into a grin at what he’s suggesting. The thought of being on her board, catching some waves and being out of this hell hole is looking more and more appealing to her by the minute. 

‘JJ, it’s literally been a day and you want to go surfing already?’

‘What can I say, it’s in my blood.’ He shrugs again, ‘look if you don’t want to go, I can always go by myself...’ 

He holds up the keyring with the keys to the Twinkie and begins to swing them round his index finger, turning as if to head out to the parking lot.

‘Wait.’ She grabs the back of his t-shirt in her haste, her fingers brushing his back and a small part of her brain - the part she wishes she would never listen to - once again springs to life at the feeling of his muscles there.

If she’s being perfectly honest, it’s been happening more and more recently lately. She catches herself staring at his arms when he’s tying surfboards to the roof of the van, or finding excuses to distract herself when he takes his top off to fix her car this past summer or, when Sarah winks at her when she walks past where they’re together on the hammock, she suddenly realises how close they are and that they’ve been in a world of their own. At first she thought he might feel whatever this was towards her too. She had been sure he kept looking under his eyelashes at her when she walked over to him at the Wreck and she’d definitely caught him staring at her through the fire when she was dancing at a kegger at The Boneyard one night but, when she’d plucked up the courage to actually ask him about it, all she’d blurted out instead was to come to Australia with her and, well, that hadn’t exactly gone down well if the ensuring discussions (she refuses to call them arguments) were anything to go by.

‘Kie?’ 

‘Huh?’ She’s still holding onto the back of JJ’s shirt, which she drops immediately, her face flushing as she realises she’d completely zoned out. ‘Right, yeah. I’ll meet you out front, just need to go put my bikini on.’ 

‘Did you bring that little black one?’

‘What?’ She completely misses his shit-eating grin before it’s too late and groans, turning round and making a beeline for the girl’s dorm, ‘fuck off JJ. I’ll see you at the van.’ 

‘Wear the black one!’ He calls as the door swings shut behind her and she begins to dig through her bag. She tells herself it’s purely coincidence that she finds the black bikini first and decides to put it on. If she enjoys the way JJ swallows and then let’s his eyes rake over her briefly when he spots the straps poking out from under her t-shirt then that’s no one’s business but her own. 

\---

An hour and a half later her head feels clearer and she’s actually enjoying herself. They’d wolfed down a breakfast burrito from some café and then spent the rest of the morning in near perfect silence apart from shouting at each other to let them know whose wave was whose. If she didn’t know how to get JJ out of his head as well as he knew how to get her out of hers, she’d find it annoying.

‘Hey, thanks.’ She clears her throat around the words, as he swims up beside her and sits up on his board. She tries in vain to ignore the water droplets that trickle down his abs as he pushes his hair out of his eyes. 

_Friends Kie, just friends._ Her eyes flicker back up to meet his.

He smirks, ‘no worries Kie. I figured ditching our friends was a much better scenario than me having to find somewhere to bury some dead bodies... though I think if you killed everyone Pope would actually be ok with that.’ 

‘You joke but I was this close to actually breaking the shower door down and committing murder. Also, I’d just like to add that Sarah snores like an absolute trucker. I honestly don’t know how John B puts up with it.’ 

He bursts out laughing and she shrugs around her smile.

‘Seriously though J, thank you. This -’ she indicates around her ‘- was exactly what I needed.’ 

This time it’s his turn to shrug. ‘You’d do the same for me.’ 

She smiles at him in reply, his face softening and relaxing in a way that very rarely happens and that she’s always grateful to see. 

‘So, last wave?’ She breaks the comfortable silence once again, ‘I imagine Sarah has just about busted my phone with calls and texts by now asking if we both got kidnapped.’ 

‘You mean if _you_ got kidnapped. John B knows I took the keys to the Twinkie.’ 

‘John B?’ He nods as she lies back down on her board ready to paddle further out, ‘that boy will definitely not have passed that information on.’ 

She hears a loud groan in reply. 

\---

It’s late afternoon when they finally make it back into town to meet the others.

‘Where the fuck have you guys been? It’s been an entire day and we’ve not seen you!’ 

She’s not sure whether to be reassured or worried by Pope’s outburst. She exchanges a smirk with JJ before he’s wrapped his arm around the other boy’s neck in a half hug.

‘Calm down man, we just went for a bit of a day trip to see the sea.’ 

‘You literally see the sea every day of your lives back home.’ 

Kiara laughs outright at the look JJ sends John B.

‘Thank you for that observation John B. I just needed to surf to work out the kinks from driving you know? I literally told you I was taking the keys for the van and Kie offered to come with me.’ 

She smiles and shrugs at Sarah’s questioning glance, sliding into the booth beside her as JJ settles in opposite next to Pope and John B.

‘Did you guys have a good day? Sorry for the minimal texts back.’ 

‘Don’t worry about it. John B did actually remember about the keys midway through taking everything out his backpack to search for them and I figured you’d gone with. We ended up doing a bit of shopping –' 

She laughs, cutting the other girl off, ‘it’s been one day Sarah!’ 

‘I know but I just thought that since we’re on the mainland and I already know of some super cute shops, plus I wanted to see how far they’d be from our apartment. We didn’t just go shopping though; we walked through the French quarter and took a horse and cart ride -’

‘- because we’re fucking rich now and we can do shit like that.’ 

She rolls her eyes at John B’s interjection, whilst simultaneously kicking JJ under the table after he makes a sound not unlike a snort. 

‘Ow! What the fuck Kie?’ 

She simply smiles at him before turning back to Sarah who’s now glancing between them with what looks like utter glee stretched across her face. 

‘So, a good time then?’

‘Yeah,’ the blonde girl continues, ‘did you-'

She’s interrupted once again, this time by Pope. 

(Kie’s not sure if the hand she lays on Sarah’s arm is to comfort her or to stop her from launching out of her seat and attacking all of them. Sometimes she forgets that Sarah grew up in a household that didn’t involve all four of the Pogues battling to speak at the same time and how annoying it can be. She sees John B mouth the word sorry from across the table too.) 

‘I didn’t have a good time! I basically had to third wheel these two for the entire day because you two ditched me! You guys owe me big time. Tomorrow we are definitely checking out the couple of museums here that I want to see, no arguments.’ He adds the last part on quickly when he sees JJ begin to open his mouth. 

‘Seems fair.’ She shrugs, deciding to keep the peace for once as the waitress comes over and takes their order. ‘I was also thinking whilst we’re here that we could see where John B and Sarah are moving to this year. Bigger apartment right guys?’

‘Yeah, much bigger.’ The couple share a fond look across the table which causes her to look away and find JJ looking straight at her instead. She raises her eyebrows in question but he just smiles slightly and shakes his head in reply. 

‘So tomorrow are we doing the apartment first and then the museums because there’s a couple of art galleries I’d quite like to look at too.’

There’s a series of groans from around the table. 

‘What?’ 

‘Pope, man, I swear...’ 

She shares another look and smile with Sarah as the boys start bickering, thinking that actually this trip really was starting to look up.

\---

The next morning she trails behind Sarah down from their dorm to meet the boys in the parking lot.

‘Good night?’ JJ corners her as they begin walking into town, swapping places with Sarah next to John B, whilst Pope heads up the group, his phone out ready to Google and then report back on what he’s found. 

‘Yeah,’ she smiles over at him for a second, before looking back straight ahead to see the direction they were headed, ‘I swapped beds with one of the girls who left last night and asked for new bedding at reception. The girl there said she was surprised one of us hadn’t asked sooner, apparently there are usually a lot of complaints.’ 

JJ snorts, ‘I wonder why. I mean I know I grew up in an absolute shit stain of a house but I think there were actual shit stains in that hostel.’

‘JJ.’ She still hates it when he brings up anything to do with his Dad, which she knows is ridiculous on her part. He’s getting better at opening up to them - to her - and yet her heart still jumps into her throat when he mentions something so casually that really shouldn’t have happened in the first place at all. Unsure what to say she reaches down and grabs his hand, squeezing slightly. He stops and turns to look at her.

‘Kie…’

‘-and on our right…’ She tunes back in as Pope loudly mentions something about the colonial house they’ve just passed, both of them dropping their hands at the same time and walking faster to catch up with their friends, the moment now passed.

They spend the rest of the morning checking out Sarah and John B’s new apartment. She gets slightly over excited at things to come when Sarah shows her the spare room and whispers loudly that ‘really this room is for you when you come over, the boys can just stay out on the couch,’ which in turn causes JJ to wince dramatically and proclaim ‘I thought we were friends Sarah,’ whilst Pope argues that really it would make more sense for him and JJ to have the spare room being as there was two of them and only one of her. Sarah, however, will not be swayed. 

They find a decent sandwich shop for lunch and are then taken around two art galleries and one museum by Pope, who claims that actually he’s reigning himself in and could have put them through much worse. Sarah also seems to be enjoying herself and uses Pope as her own personal tour guide, asking questions and responding to the fountain of knowledge that pours from his mouth with information of her own. Kie, meanwhile, spends most of the afternoon dragging either JJ or John B, or both, away from countless priceless art sculptures like they’re children and thinking that they could have saved time and money by just staying outside instead. 

That evening Sarah makes them all dress up and takes them to her favourite restaurant in town where the staff, to everyone else’s amusement, all know her personally by name. The boys look smart in their unripped jeans and have actually buttoned up their shirts for once. Kie thanks her lucky stars that she actually packed the one summer dress she owns after she sees the monstrosity Sarah originally wants her to put on. The blonde mutters something like ‘at least I tried’ or ‘utter heathens’ at them under her breath whilst the rest of them moan about their outfits on the walk there, but all of them shut up immediately when they step inside. 

‘Holy shit, I keep forgetting I fit in at these places now that I’m stinking rich.’ 

She hears Sarah tut at JJ’s words as they sit down but he’s also smiling so she knows he didn’t mean any harm. She slides into the chair that’s been pulled out for her next to him, Sarah and John B opposite and Pope at the head of the table. 

‘Yeah, but we’ll always be Pogues man.’ John B adds, reaching across to complete their handshake with her then JJ and then Pope (they’d tried to teach Sarah one summer but she’d failed to grasp the whole thing and had declared that she was absolutely fine with hugging them all instead).

‘Pogues who can afford fancy shit like swordfish.’ She laughs as she opens her menu and reads the first thing that pops out at her before thinking better of it, ‘Sarah, what’s good here?’ 

They end up with plates of bruschetta, salmon, steak and swordfish plus a vegetable risotto for her which she thinks may be the best thing she’s ever tasted. She sees the other diners looking over at their rag tag group more than once, obviously questioning who they are and the fact that they’re in the restaurant in the first place. By that point though, she’s had a glass (or three) of white wine, the food is exceptionally good and she’s with her best friends so she really couldn’t give a shit what anyone else thinks. 

The whole meal costs them nearly $500 dollars but she figures it’s worth it. 

\---

‘I need to Kie, please, it’s been like two whole days now and no one else will come with me.’

She’d rolled herself out of bed at the crack of dawn due to the banging on the door and had opened it to find JJ, wide awake and on high alert, twirling his rings around his fingers and dressed in board shorts and a sweatshirt which, if the stitching on the sleeve was anything to go by, had actually been John B’s in another life.

She begins to regret the wine from the night before. 

‘Because they’re sensible JJ. It’s early, go back to bed. You need to get used to not being near water. What are you going to do when we’re inland and there’s no waves?’ 

He shrugs, leaning against the open door frame, ‘Smoke weed instead, I guess.’ 

She rolls her eyes, ‘Right, of course,’ then resists the urge to give in (or kiss him) when he pouts at her.

‘But Kie-'

‘No.’ 

‘Kieeeeee…’

She thinks that if he doesn’t give up and go away within the next ten minutes then she’ll probably fall asleep standing up.

‘Please Kie, I’ll owe you one. Like seriously, I’ll braid your hair for like the next month or, I dunno, pay for your food for the next two weeks or…’

‘JJ,’ she cuts him off, moving forward into the corridor as a loud snore comes from behind her, ‘how about you go back to bed for the next hour and then we all go surfing? Can we agree on that as a compromise?’

He pouts again slightly, her stomach somersaulting at the look on his face, before he nods his head in resignation, ‘I guess that’ll do.’ He sighs dramatically, leaning his head back and asks his next question to the ceiling, ‘but how will I convince John B and Pope?’

‘Just leave that to me.’

And so she finds herself getting up and getting ready as silently as possible, before then waking up Sarah who, to her credit, agrees that actually it’ll be nice to do something they all enjoy. The two of them then descend on the boy’s dorm an hour later, promising the boys hot food and a good day out which seems to do the trick.

(She tries not to think about how she’s doing all this for one boy in particular.)

They spend their last full day in South Carolina at Folly Beach before heading back out onto the open road, pulling over and stopping in Knoxville a few hours later so that all of them can actually get a good night’s sleep and wash the saltwater out of their hair.

She casually suggests a hostel near to what looks like a row of shops and restaurants after a frantic search on TripAdvisor and, once they’ve pulled up and gone inside, she’s nominated as chief accommodation officer by Sarah who announces that ‘this one is way better than the one Pope and I picked’ - something which shouldn’t make her feel as relieved and happy as it does. 

JJ pulls her aside as they make their way into their mixed dorm they’d booked for the 5 of them, eyes shining like he knows her better than she knows herself.

‘So, chief accommodation officer huh?’ He grins at the shrug she offers him in reply then, ‘Charleston wasn’t that bad was it Kie?’ 

She shakes her head, figuring that she probably needs to get used to the less glamorous side of travelling and all that comes with it, especially being as she wants to explore during her time off in Australia. 

‘No, mostly in thanks to you J.’ She slings her backpack onto the spare bed beneath his, ‘I was definitely ready to call it a day and go home that first morning.’ 

‘Meh, John B washing his hair can do that to a person.’ She laughs as he continues, ‘glad you stayed though.’ 

‘Yeah,’ she smiles at him, ‘me too.’ 

They agree to stay in Knoxville for a couple of days over dinner at the local diner (Pope declares that the fish tacos are a lowly second to the ones that Kie makes for them back home so she figures all is forgiven for ditching him on day one); there’s a couple of parks they fancy for walks and they all agree on the Museum of Natural History once John B and JJ realise they have animals as the exhibits (she smiles secretly at Sarah and Pope who also don’t bother to let them know that they’re stuffed until they actually step foot into the place), before they then head on to Nashville.

She’s clambering into the Twinkie one morning and realises that they’ve now been away for a whole week, and that she’s actually excited to see what’s in store next. She figures that she’s allowed to be after the shit show that was the first 24 hours of this trip, determined to enjoy every minute from now until it ends to make up for it instead. 

‘So, partner, what playlist have you prepared for us this time?’ 

JJ’s back in the driving seat and so she’s back on navigation and music duty. She grins over at him before announcing, ‘Next stop is Nashville, right?’

‘I’m not sure I like that look on your face, Kie.’ 

Her grin widens as she presses play and the familiar tones of Dolly Parton fill the air, ‘well, it’s the home of country music and so that’s what we’ve got for the next few hours.’ 

She laughs as JJ groans loudly, signalling onto the highway, the sounds of Sarah and Pope singing along come from the back seat whilst John B joins in with, what she presumes, is supposed to be a guitar impression. 

‘I can’t promise I won’t kill anyone during these next couple of hours Kie, but I’ll try.’ 

She places one hand on her heart and one hand on his arm, exclaiming ‘my hero!’ dramatically before beginning to join in with the words to Jolene. She sees JJ smile and turn back to face the road out the corner of her eye.

Just less than four hours, two and a half pitstops, two driver swaps and one tube of Pringles later, they drive past the Nashville sign. Kie notes that at this point, they’re all singing along.


	3. Nashville - Memphis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this chapter started life as a small filler but ended up like this and i'm amazed and also shocked at how many words it took to get them through two more cities! i've never been to nashville or memphis myself so have taken some creative liberties with their visits and what's where - just in case things don't make sense to anyone.  
> thank you again for the comments and kudos on ch2. it's crazy that people are reading and actually enjoying this little story i'm writing.  
> anyway... unbeta'ed so apologies for any mistakes. hope you enjoy ch3!

Halfway to Nashville, after a particularly rushed pit stop, Kie had looked up from her phone and suggested that they stay in a Best Western hotel. JJ had snorted and smirked over at her in response.

‘You are such a kook.’

He doesn’t miss the slightly offended look on her face, ‘I am not.’

He changes his mind as soon as he pulls into the hotel parking lot and sees that it has a pool.

‘I take it all back,’ he declares loudly, pulling into a space and then throwing the door open to stretch his legs, ‘Kiara Carrera, you are the love of my life. This place has got water attached and that’s all I need.’

‘What are you, a mermaid or something?’ She mutters and he thinks she looks slightly flustered for a minute. They grab their bags from the back then noisily stroll up to the reception desk, where Kie checks them in and John B smacks his hands twice as he tries to steal a pen.

‘JJ.’ He hisses, ‘Stop.’

‘It’s a souvenir.’ He hisses back, not missing Sarah rolling her eyes at the two of them, ‘This hotel is probably the nicest place I’ve ever stayed. They’ve probably got two million of these things in this one hotel alone.’

‘Actually,’ the dark haired girl behind the desk captures his attention, ‘I think we probably have two million alone just in the box under here. How many do you want?’

JJ grins at her and asks for five, just because he can.

‘Thank you,’ he leans over the desk to get a better view of the girl’s name tag, ‘Maria of Best Western Nashville. I will forever be in your debt.’

He almost hears John B roll his eyes from next to him but Pope’s grinning so he knows his charms are working. Kie clears her throat loudly and Maria’s attention snaps back to her for a moment.

‘Sorry to interrupt,’ he thinks Kie is talking through her teeth but can’t for the life of him work out why, ‘but can we have the keys to our rooms now?’

‘Oh, sure.’ Maria answers her but is back to looking and smiling directly at him, he hears Kie mutter rude under her breath which makes his grin widen, ‘Rooms 246, 247 and 248. Two doubles and a twin. You just need to take the elevator up to the second floor and they’re on the right hand side. Breakfast is served every morning from 7.30am in the room down the hall here.’

She hands the keys to him, still smiling. He immediately passes them to Kie, who grabs her bag from the floor and walks towards where the elevators are. He spares one last look and a wink for Maria before running to catch up with the others.

Kie hands the keys out as they’re standing in the elevator up to the 2nd floor. ‘John B and Sarah, a room for you. Pope, twin room for you and JJ and, the golden ticket, a room all to myself.’

JJ thinks about arguing that actually he’d quite like the double all to himself, especially with Maria on reception just downstairs, but, after what Kie had said in Charleston about Sarah’s snoring, he reckons she probably deserves a good night’s sleep so he decides to let it drop for once.

The elevator finally creaks to a halt and they all jostle their way out and down the corridor towards their rooms. Pope manages to get the card in the slot to open the door and they both walk into the biggest bedroom JJ has seen in his life. He throws his backpack onto the bed nearest the door to claim it - something to do with childhood trauma and the need to escape, Pope had tried to explain to him once - before flinging the door open to the balcony.

‘Yes!’ He’s half tempted to fist bump the air when he notices that the pool is directly in front of him, ‘Hey Pope, do you think if I jumped off this railing I could land in the pool?’

‘No.’

‘You didn’t even look.’

‘The answer’s still no, JJ.’

He sighs and goes back into the room as Pope reappears from the door once again with John B in tow.

‘The girls are deciding where they want to eat or some shit. I said I’d come get you guys.’

JJ nods, ‘Do you think if I jumped off the railing from the balcony, I could land in the pool?’

John B lights up at the suggestion but Pope cuts in before he can answer, ‘Don’t encourage him, I don’t want to end up in Accident and Emergency. There may be a way we could try to surf the pool though...’

JJ whoops and throws his arms around them both, all three jostling each other again as they head back out to the corridor, ‘Alright boys, looks like we’re going surfing!’

\---

At 8am the next morning, after the smell rising up from the ground floor becomes too much for him to bear, he wakes Pope up from the land of the dead (I mean really, he thinks, his friend should get an award for sleeping as well as all the science stuff) and sends the group chat a message saying that it’s time for breakfast.

They arrive downstairs to find John B ready and waiting, shirt hanging open and customary bandana around his neck.

‘Glad you texted, I couldn’t wait any longer,’ he greets them both with their customary handshake, ‘Sarah made me get up and have a shower an hour ago so she could carry on sleeping. That smell...’

‘...is the exact reason I dragged Pope out of bed.’ JJ laughs, his eyes lighting up as he grabs a plate and surveys the amount of food in front of him, ‘Jesus fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much food.’

There’s a slight pause before all 3 of them begin piling their plates.

‘This is all included right?’ JJ manages to ground out around a mouthful of bacon, sitting down at a table in the centre of the room and ignoring the stares from the other diners.

‘Yup.’ Pope replies through his own mouthful, sitting opposite with John B, ‘Holy shit, these eggs are better than my Mom’s.’

There’s another pause where the only sounds are forks scraping plates and chewing.

‘No one tell her that.’ He adds on as an afterthought, pointing his finger at JJ who shakes his head in return.

‘Yeah hard pass, I’d like to see my 30th birthday. Mama Heyward would never let me live if I even so much as suggested her eggs were second best.’

John B swallows then laughs, ‘I could get used to this B&B kook shit.’

JJ nods, shovelling another forkful into his mouth.

By the time Kiara and Sarah appear, Pope and JJ are on their third plate and John B on his fourth.

‘Let me guess,’ Sarah says, glancing around the table as her and Kie sit down on either side of JJ, ‘third helping?’

He nods, ‘John B’s on four.’

‘Of course he is.’ She rolls her eyes but the rest of her face looks fond.

‘Is that all your having?’ He can’t help but add as he notices the smaller amount of food on both the girls’ plates. ‘This is free, right? Like, why not have everything?’

‘Because JJ,’ Kie starts, ‘just because it’s there doesn’t mean you have to eat it all. Also, it’s not free exactly, it’s included in the room price.’

‘Right....’ he trails off, ‘so basically it’s free.’ She rolls her eyes at him, but he also sees the smile that twists her lips upwards before she turns to eat her own breakfast so he knows he’s won.

‘What’s the plan for today?’ Pope asks, pushing his now clear plate away from him and leaning back in his chair, ‘seeing the sights or...?’

Sarah pulls up a page on Google to show them, ‘There’s a bus that takes us around the city which stops just around the block. I thought that might be a good option to begin with?’

‘Or,’ JJ leans over and tries to click on the link below before Sarah whips her phone out the way, ‘we could take the party bus?’

His reply is a frown from Sarah, a shake of the head from Pope, a shrug from John B and a pat on the shoulder from Kie.

‘I’ll take that as a no then.’

‘Maybe another day?’ Kie adds on, ‘I mean, once we know the place a bit better we could go check out some bars and things?’ There are a few nods from around the rest of the table in agreement.

‘Thanks Kie.’ She offers him a smile in return before turning back to the impromptu planning meeting, her hand still resting on his shoulder.

\---

They opt to spend the rest of the morning taking a tour of the city on the Best of Nashville bus like Sarah suggested. Pope and Kiara get far too enthused by all the sights, taking pictures of literally everything and listening intently to the commentary the bus provides. Sarah and John B opt to take a seat at the back, the reason for which JJ does not wish to find out about so instead he finds a seat to himself, pulls his cap down over his eyes, and decides to take a nap.

He’s woken up an hour later with Kie gently but urgently saying his name next to him (all of them had agreed, during one very painful, teeth on edge conversation for JJ, that they would try and wake him up without touching him after they’d found out about his Dad and put that, plus his near constant flinching when he was half asleep, together. Pope was the only one who had forgotten since and had tried to wake him with a shake to the shoulder one morning. JJ, in response, had nearly punched him in the jaw which, if he thinks about it, actually proves that it was probably a good idea after all).

‘Huh? What?’

Her eyes are flashing with what looks like delight as JJ frowns and tries to groggily make sense of his surroundings. ‘C’mon sleepy head, we’re gonna grab some lunch and then the next stop is the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.’

At the word museum he groans but sits up, taking his hat off and running his hand through his hair before placing it down backwards on his head. He stands up and shakes out his arms and legs, before following Kie and Pope off the bus as it rolls to a stop, John B and Sarah bringing up the rear. They each grab a burrito from one of the ridiculously expensive stands located near the entrance (Kie mutters something about Capitalism and taking money off unsuspecting tourists but quietly enough that the vendor doesn’t hear, he responds by loudly saying that it’s the best burrito he’s ever had in his life) and then, once they’ve all finished eating, they head inside.

The rest of the afternoon is taken up with the museum which, if he’s honest, he actually quite enjoys. He lets the others go on ahead, giving him chance to stop every once in a while to read the exhibits at his own speed, and look at all the memorabilia. He has no clue who most of the people are but he likes the look of the guitars and the music they have playing over the speakers in the background isn’t actually all that bad. He’s in the last room watching a video of Elvis performing sometime in the 1960s when he see Kie heading towards him in his peripheral vision.

‘Cool, huh?’

‘Yeah.’ He nods then, because he’s still looking at the display, adds, ‘My mom loved him. I have these weird, fuzzy memories from before she dipped of her dancing round the kitchen to his songs. Sometimes I’m with her and sometimes even my dad. I guess it wasn’t all bad...’ He shrugs as he trails off.

‘JJ...’ Her hand clasps his and squeezes once before letting go, ‘you know we could actually go to Graceland? See where the King lived?’

He turns fully to look at her, eyebrows raised, ‘Seriously?’

She shrugs, ‘I mean I don’t see why not. I know I’d be happy to go even if the others don’t fancy it.’

‘Don’t fancy what?’ John B cuts in, Sarah and Pope just behind him, ‘Oh cool, Elvis.’

‘What about Memphis for the next stop?’ Kie asks the group as JJ tries not to get his hopes up, ‘We kinda fancy a tour of Graceland too?’

‘Sure.’ Sarah agrees as Pope and John B nod beside her, ‘Sounds like fun.’

And that’s that, they’re going to Graceland. JJ grins over at Kie, who smiles back, and he promises himself he’s going to read up on Elvis (or get Pope to and then he’ll just memorise things) before he gets there so he can actually sprout some knowledge for once.

‘Hey so, there’s this diner near here that I kinda fancy... Hattie B’s?’ John B starts, ‘Apparently it’s kinda famous round here?’

‘I saw that too.’ Pope shrugs, ‘I’m good with whatever.’

‘I swear if it’s not about surfing, it’s about food.’ Sarah sighs, but her stomach grumbling completely disregards the last sentence, ‘Yes alright, final stop of the day, let’s go.’

Four hours later, they make it back to the hotel after what, JJ thinks, may be the best chicken he’s ever eaten.

‘This is why I suggested this trip, all the good food!’ He exclaims as he throws himself down face first onto the bed. The sound of springs from next to him suggests that Pope has done the exact same thing.

‘Hey JJ,’ He turns his head a fraction so he can see Pope in the dim light of the room, ‘you and Kie, you know we all wouldn’t have a problem with it right?’

‘We’re just friends man,’ he manages to prop his head up to answer, ‘nothing to have a problem with.’

JJ gets the feeling that Pope wants to add more but instead just nods. ‘Night JJ.’

‘Night Pope.’

\---

The next day in Nashville begins much the same, though each of them only manage two plates of breakfast thanks to the meal from the night before. They all agree to head to the Grand Ole Opry for a tour and Sarah also manages to book them all $5 daytime concert tickets. JJ thought he was warming to country music but after two days of it, he’s now not so sure.

‘Remind me again why we didn’t go to Florida?’ He asks John B through gritted teeth as the band go off stage for the interval and Kie and Sarah head off to get snacks, ‘I would much rather be at, I dunno, Disneyland or something right now rather than listening to this shit.’

John B nods in agreement, ‘I honestly don’t think I even know our friends anymore JJ, I mean country music, really? Also, I think my whole relationship is a lie.’

‘Why are you both so dramatic?’ Pope shakes his head at the two of them, ‘Are we still surfing the pool tonight?’

JJ nods enthusiastically and, by the time the girls have reappeared with a large bag of popcorn, they’ve made enough of a half decent plan for that evening that he manages to sit through the rest of the concert without complaining out loud. Kie puts her hand on his knee three times to stop it from bouncing and looks over, eyebrows raised, when he tries to put popcorn down the back of John B’s shirt though. He begrudgingly wanders around (and partly enjoys himself at) the Johnny Cash museum but then finally, _finally_ , they’re all back at the hotel.

John B and Sarah disappear to their room whilst Pope and JJ grab the surfboards from the top the van. Kie had opted to keep watch but she returns to help them a moment later, reporting back that it’s all clear.

‘Almost too easy,’ he mutters, feeling slightly unsettled but empties his pockets, strips off his t-shirt, boots and socks and joins Kie in the pool in just his shorts anyway.

Pope, God bless his soul, had managed to rig together some sort of mechanical device using bits and pieces he had lying around in the Twinkie - JJ suspects that he’s been working on the project for years and had just been waiting for an opportunity to be able to try it out - and a few springs from the pens that Maria had given him from reception. He’d taken great delight in telling John B this fact when Pope had asked if he could have them, but then switched off a minute later when the latter had then gone on to try and explain how it worked - something to do with sucking the water in and then pushing it back out to create a swell.

After a moment, there’s a shout from Pope asking if they’re ready and they nod just as John B and Sarah reappear. There’s a slight bang and then nothing happens.

‘I don’t think it worked, man.’ John B calls out and JJ wants to laugh at the death glare Pope sends his way.

‘No shit, John B.’

‘Hey, it doesn’t matter. We can just play water polo or swim or something instead.’ Kie adds helpfully but JJ has a better idea. He pushes himself out the pool, dragging his board with him, and rustles through the pile of his belongings, finding his stash of weed and holding it up. Kie grins over at him as she too pulls her board out the pool, before wandering over. His eyes drift down of their own accord for a second before he remembers who she is and where they are and they snap back to her face.

‘Seems like a good second bet.’

‘You can’t just smoke weed here!’ Sarah hisses and points to the no smoking sign. ‘I knew this was a bad idea. We’re never staying at a hotel ever again.’

‘But the pool...’

‘And the food...’ John B and Pope both start talking at once whilst he rolls the joint, flipping his zippo open to light it and handing it to Kie after taking the first smoke. Normally he would argue but, as much as Sarah is now definitely a Pogue, she’s also still slightly terrifying.

‘Sarah, it’s fine. There’s no one around.’ At the look on Sarah’s face, Kie backtracks slightly, ‘Maybe we need to go off grid and opt for Airbnb’s instead? Or go back to hostels?’

JJ shrugs, ‘I’m good with whatever, Kie.’

The other two boys agree.

‘Happy with anything.’

‘As long as I’ve got a bed and a roof over my head.’

Sarah looks slightly less displeased once they’ve all voiced their opinions. John B throws his arm around her shoulders which makes her relax even further.

‘Ok fine,’ she sighs, ‘pass it here.’ JJ and Kie share a grin before she passes the joint over.

Once they’ve finished smoking, taken an extremely long time to get their boards back on top of the van, and let Pope spend a good hour wondering out loud why his wave machine hadn't worked, they all cram into the elevator once again to head up to their rooms.

‘Sorry it didn’t go to plan.’ Pope mutters, ‘Don’t know why it didn’t work.’

‘Hey, don’t beat yourself up,’ JJ lies what he hopes is a reassuring hand on Pope’s shoulder, ‘we still had a good night, right? And at least we tried.’

‘Yeah,’ John B adds, ‘no worries.’

JJ doesn’t miss the look Kie and Sarah give each other as they reach their floor but decides it’s too late and he’s just about high enough not to care.

\---

‘I’ve got a surprise.’ Kiara announces when she arrives at breakfast the next morning. JJ narrows his eyes - that look definitely meant something then - and glances between both her and Sarah.

‘Is this a trick? Like you say it’s a surprise but actually it’s a bad one?’

Kie shakes her head at him, ‘No, it’s a good surprise, I promise.’

She shares a grin with Sarah, which does nothing to ease his suspicions, but he gets in the van anyway.

‘This better be worth it.’ He mutters as he slams the door behind him, boys in the back and girls in the front.

Approximately 15 minutes later Sarah tells Kie to indicate off the highway, past a sign that reads _Adventureworks Zipline Forest_.

‘Are you serious right now?’ He leans his head between the two front seats and glances from left to right, ‘You better not be fucking with me.’

John B and Pope look equally as delighted and all three of them fall out of the Twinkie in haste as soon as Kie puts it in park.

‘I thought maybe we all needed something that would use up some energy.’ She adds as they all traipse over to get checked in and harnessed up, ‘Especially after last night not going to plan - don’t apologise again Pope, it’s not an issue!’

JJ opts to go first and soon he’s attached to the zip line and flying through the tree tops on the outskirts of Nashville. This is what he came for, he thinks, shouting out loud and hearing four echoes from behind him.

‘Thanks Kie.’ He says, as they’re being transferred from one line to the other halfway through the day.

She shrugs, ‘Me and Sarah just thought that you and John B and to a certain extent, Pope, would maybe enjoy something other than a museum for once and, being as the surfing didn’t work out, I figured this would be a good way to burn off some excess energy.’

He winks at her, ‘I do know of another way to burn off excess energy, if you fancy it…’

She groans and shoves him off the platform in retaliation. He’s halfway along the next zip line but still hears her call from behind him, ‘In your dreams JJ!’

As they’re walking back to the Twinkie that evening, tired but happy, JJ announces that this was the second best day of the trip so far.

‘What was the first?’ Sarah questions.

‘Surfing.’ But he doesn’t specify which surfing trip and no one thinks to ask.

\---

‘I’ve booked us all on a walking tour,’ John B announces when they’re all sat down for lunch the next day, ‘it’s also a bar crawl.’

‘Fuck yes.’ JJ raises his arm up over the table for a high five. ‘When do we go?’

They meet the rest of the tour group outside a café later that afternoon. JJ immediately decides he likes their guide who’s dressed head to toe in Jack Daniels merchandise and who, he thinks, is already halfway to drunk if the slight slurring and not being able to walk in a straight line is anything to go by.

‘Hey man,’ he asks as soon as the floor opens up for questions, ‘how many of these tours have you done so far today? And what’s with the all the merch?’ He indicates the outfit.

‘Two.’ Dave (at least JJ thinks his name is Dave, John B swore he had said James) says. ‘And we’re in Tennessee, it’s JD country. Seems wrong to do a bar crawl tour without it.’ He turns to answer another question.

‘So you mean to tell me we should have been drinking Jack Daniels the entire time we’ve been here?’ He mutters.

Kie laughs as they all trail into the first bar of the day, ‘It does literally say Tennessee on the bottle.’

‘I don’t read the fucking bottle Kie,’ he deadpans, ‘I’m more concerned with the liquid inside and how it tastes.’

‘Really, JJ? You should appreciate your whiskey.’

‘Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. I do appreciate my whiskey.’ He grabs one of the glasses that have been set up for them and downs it in one. ‘I just appreciate it more in my mouth.’

‘That’s what she said.’ John B adds and JJ decides there and then that it’s going to be a fun afternoon indeed.

They end up in eight more bars, make friends with a group of Irish tourists who match them drink for drink (Sarah asks him twice why he’s pouting after one of them starts chatting up Kie, he tells her that he’s not but she simply pats him on the arm and tells him he needs to start sounding more convincing if he’s going to lie to her. He downs two shots of whiskey to help drown out her words and tries not to wonder what it all means) and by the end of the night JJ thinks that he never wants to drink Jack Daniels ever again.

\---

They all agree at breakfast on the fifth morning that they’ve had enough of Nashville - JJ knows it must be time to move on because even Kie admits she’s had enough of country music.

John B agrees to drive to Memphis with JJ riding shotgun. Twenty minutes into the journey, JJ hears three sets of heavy breathing from the back and turns to confirm that they’re all asleep.

‘Looks like it’s just you and me for the next four hours, JB.’ He remarks, swivelling back round, ‘Or I could play Elvis really loudly to wake them all up and force them to take part in this journey.’

John B laughs but doesn’t take his eyes off the road, ‘Up to you, but I don’t fancy dealing with all three of them being angry at us for waking them up at the same time.’

JJ shudders, ‘Yeah, good point.’ He turns the volume down slightly on Kiara and Sarah’s Memphis playlist which is basically just various versions of Walking in Memphis mixed in with Elvis songs (most of which he knows the words to - a fact he’s trying really hard not to dwell on), just in case. They spend the next few hours playing an extremely long and detailed game of I-Spy, JJ eventually concedes when he can’t guess John B’s ‘T’ (it turns out to be a truck they’d passed at least ten minutes ago that had already turned off the main road).

‘You suck at this game.’ JJ jumps at Pope’s voice from the back, ‘We’ve been awake for the past half hour and I’m not sure what’s worse, John B’s use of letters or JJ’s guesses.’

‘Definitely John B.’ Kie offers, ‘At least JJ was actually guessing things that began with that letter.’

‘Yeah, but I’m fairly certain I’ve not seen a television in any capacity since the hotel room so...’

‘Any one of these vehicles could have a TV in their trunk Sarah, so I’m not wrong.’

‘You’re not technically right either.’ He resists the temptation to turn around and stick his tongue out like a child, choosing instead to tell John B to switch lanes ready for the next turn.

‘Did you know we’re going to pass through a Jackson, Tennessee but there’s also a Jackson, Mississippi?’

This time JJ does twist round in his seat to get a better view of his friend, ‘Pope, where do you learn this shit?’

‘It’s called the internet. It’s this new-fangled thing where you can actually learn stuff just by typing something in.’ He waves his phone in the air as if to prove to his point.

‘Yeah, but that involves reading, you know I can’t read...’

‘Bullshit. You can read JJ; I spent the majority of my spare time in middle school making sure you could.’

‘Why do you always insist on bringing this up?’

‘Because it’s my proudest achievement.’

‘Aw, that’s nice Pope. I’m your proudest achievement.’

Pope rolls his eyes, ‘Yeah, that and the time I convinced John B that fish could walk, they were just too lazy to do so.’

Sarah cackles in delight from the back seat as John B cuts in, ‘Hey! How was I supposed to know that they didn’t have hidden legs? I was ten!’

‘It taught you to do your own homework from then on that was for sure.’ Pope mutters.

‘I still somehow managed to pass that class though.’

‘Not sure how.’

‘And you say I’m the stupid one.’ JJ cuts in, half in jest.

‘You’re not stupid JJ, you just learn differently because you’re dyslexic. That’s the joy of audio books.’

‘Potato, tomato.’

Pope sighs, tilting his head back in despair, ‘That’s not even how the saying goes…’

JJ just grins and turns back round to the front, turning the playlist up in volume now that they’re all awake.

‘Ok, so I’ve found where we can stay for the next few nights...’ Kie speaks after a few minutes, ‘The owners have said we can have it for as long as we want as there’s no one else booked for a while.’

She reads out the address to JJ who programmes it into Google Maps on his battered phone.

‘No peeking!’ She looks pretty pleased with herself which JJ finds amusing, ‘It’s another good surprise though, I promise!’

One hour and another rest stop later, they pull up outside a large, white bungalow which looks newly renovated. JJ gets that prickly feeling when he knows he shouldn’t touch things but can’t help himself anyway. One glance tells him that the others are just as speechless as they all pile out of the van onto the driveway.

‘I just thought we should explore everything available to us and this was, believe it or not, the cheapest option for this area per night.’

He wants to laugh as Kie carries on talking, even though they’ve now got enough money to last them a lifetime, they’re still treating this road trip like they’re dirt poor. Or maybe not, he amends as Kie enters a code into a box by the door, pulling out a set of keys and unlocking the main entrance, because then they wouldn’t be even on this road trip in the first place. They step into a giant hallway with various rooms leading off of it, JJ isn’t sure where to look first.

Sarah breaks the stunned silence, ‘Kie, this is amazing. I knew there was a reason I made you chief accommodation officer.’

‘Yeah, that was definitely the best decision we’ve had on this trip.’

‘We, JJ? Who’s we? It was definitely just me who made that decision.’

‘Guys, seriously. There’s an entire fucking lake just sitting out the back of this place.’

JJ literally can’t believe his eyes when he walks through a kitchen/diner/sitting room to where Pope is standing next to the wide open back door. There’s a lake complete with a boat and a deck - it’s almost like coming home but a hell of a lot nicer.

‘Holy shit Kie,’ he can’t tear his eyes away from the lake, ‘how long have you booked this place for again? I never want to leave.’

John B laughs in disbelief, throwing his arm round Sarah who’s face is also lit up with delight, ‘It’s like a fancier Chateau.’

‘Now I’ve seen this, there’s no going back. This is how we could be living-‘

Sarah cuts JJ off, ‘John B, if you want me to continue being your girlfriend, this is the standard I’m now aspiring to.’

‘Holy fuck.’ John B just about manages to breathe out and JJ thinks his best friend might be broken.

They eventually manage to tear themselves away from the view and take a tour of the rest of the house. There’s another sitting room, a games room, enough bedrooms for them all to have one each (John B and Sarah choose to share anyway) and enough bathrooms that both John B and Kie can wash their hair at the same time. JJ is convinced that he might get lost. The best part is definitely the outside though and, whilst Pope and Kie head to the nearest supermarket to grab food for dinner, the other three head out onto the deck.

‘There’s a heater outside and even a fucking games room with a pool table, I can’t, I mean, I just –‘ JJ pauses from where he’s perched on the edge of his chair rolling a joint to look around, ‘I think I’m in love… with a house.’ He fishes out his zippo from his pocket, lights it and takes a smoke before passing it to John B, who’s wrapped around Sarah in the chair next to him. ‘You know there’s room for each of you to have your own chair right?’

Sarah rolls her eyes, ‘Fuck off JJ. You literally just said you’re in love with a house, I don’t think our sharing the chair is the weirdest thing to happen in the last ten minutes.’ There’s a pause, ‘That was all said with the greatest admiration and respect.’

JJ shrugs as Pope and Kie come into view at last, laden down with plates of food and bottles of beer, ‘I won’t argue with that.’

‘Who’s in love with a house?’ Kie cuts in, placing the beer on the floor before handing a plate of pizza to Sarah, settling down in the deck chair to his right. Pope hands a plate to John B and then one to him before throwing himself down cross legged on the floor.

‘JJ.’

She just shakes her head, ‘Of course, should have guessed.’

‘Holy shit,’ he takes another bite of the pizza, ‘Kie, did you make this? I think you’ve actually outdone yourself with the food.’

John B winks at him before also shifting his attention to look at Kie, ‘Have you ever considered becoming a chef?’

Pope grins before adding on, ‘You could take over The Wreck!’

Kie groans in exasperation, ‘Why do you all insist on having this conversation every time I cook? The answer’s still no.’

‘Why? Because you don’t want to or because it would make your parents happy?’

‘Just drop it JJ.’

The only other time he risked asking that question was during one of their arguments and he’s definitely never said it in front of the others before. He thinks it’s probably a lot to do with her trying to make him leave and, if he admits it, him trying to make her stay. There’s a slightly uncomfortable silence before it’s broken by Sarah clearing her throat and glancing over at him.

‘So... Graceland tomorrow?’ She offers him a slightly sad smile that makes him feel like he wants to tear off his own skin, but he just shakes it off and nods.

‘Sure. Sounds good.’ And then they’re back to planning the next day’s trip and acting like nothing happened.

\---

On Graceland Day, as JJ christened it, they wake up early and arrive at the mansion for when it opens. He doesn’t think he’s been this excited for something in a very, very long time.

‘JJ, calm down!’ Sarah grits out in the queue for tickets, ‘All your bouncing is making me feel ill.’

‘Sorry.’ He stops for all of thirty seconds before he begins rolling backwards and forwards on the balls of his feet. ‘Seriously, how long is this going to take?’

John B pulls out his phone and begins to quiz them all on Elvis in response, which helps the time go quicker. To everyone’s surprise, including his own, he scores equal points with Pope.

‘How do you know so much about the King?’ John B asks, pocketing his phone as they reach the front of the queue.

JJ shrugs, ‘My mom.’

He’s saved from answering a follow up question as they buy their tickets and are handed individual audio guides and then they’re standing outside the mansion. JJ can’t quite believe that they’re here and that this is where Elvis actually lived. He pauses, just outside the main entrance.

‘Hey man,’ John B claps him on the back as he indicates for the others to go ahead with his other hand, ‘Are you ok?’

He sees Kie glance back towards them both but he offers her a small smile and then turns back to John B, ‘Yeah,’ he says, snapping his headphones onto his head and turning to head inside, ‘all good.’

And really he is. He’s pleased that he’s got the audio guide as it means he can just focus on what’s in front of him, get lost in his own world and not have to worry about anything else. He follows the tour with the rest of the crowd; the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the TV room and then the world famous Jungle room.

‘Hey,’ Kie waves at him and he takes his headphones off to hear her, only just realising that the others have gone on ahead, ‘are you sure you’re ok?’

‘Yeah,’ he smiles, ‘I really am. If I couldn’t come here with my Mom, then you guys are definitely the second best bet.’

She smiles, ‘Do you want a picture of you in here?’ He nods but he knows he surprises her when he grabs her hand and pulls her round to take a photo of them both. They move on quickly when Kie spots the no photography sign.

All of them eat lunch in the overpriced on site restaurant, before trying to all squeeze in for a picture in front of the house.

‘I knew I should have brought my selfie stick.’ Sarah says.

‘Please,’ Pope mutters darkly, ‘never ever say the words selfie stick in my presence ever again.’ Before any of them can think to ask what Pope means, an older woman comes over and asks if they’d like her to take a photo of all of them. Sarah nods and thanks her, all of them crowding round the small screen to have look once she hands it back.

‘I think that’s the best photo of us anyone has ever taken,’ JJ states, ‘mainly because we’re all smiling and actually looking at the camera.’

John B at least has the decency to look slightly guilty, ‘It’s not my fault I’m not good at taking photos.’

Sarah sighs, ‘I hate to say it babe, but I actually agree with JJ on this one.’

‘Must try harder in future, JB.’ Pope adds on, all of them now laughing at the look of outrage forming on their friend’s face.

They carry on with the tour of the grounds, looking in both the Trophy and Racquetball buildings. On impulse, which he will be the first to admit never usually works out well for him, JJ sends the photo of him and Kie in the Jungle room to his Dad when he thinks no one is looking. He then wishes he hadn’t as the two blue ticks show up immediately with no response.

‘Hey,’ Kie cuts into his thoughts, headphones long since abandoned around his neck, ‘he might just not know what to say rather than just ignoring you.’

He appreciates the effort, but they both know she’s lying.

The afternoon picks up however when he decides to ask one of the staff where the toilet is where Elvis died (the kid manages to stutter out half a response before he’s pulled quickly away by both Kie and John B), they all get ice cream and Sarah gets brain freeze and then to top it off, there’s a guy dressed up at Elvis who’s doing a really bad job of it. For some reason this cheers him up immensely.

He’s murmuring along to Elvis songs under his breath when John B finds him in the gift shop, ‘Saw this and thought of you.’

His friend hands him a lighter with a picture of Elvis’ face on it. ‘I know it won’t replace your other one but thought you might like a souvenir.’

JJ sees the other three Pogues lurking the background and begins to suspect that Kie may have told them about his Mom but, being as no one has specifically brought it up, which he appreciates, he finds that actually he doesn’t care all that much. It’s not really a massive secret that his Mom liked Elvis after all.

‘Thanks John B.’ He takes the lighter, pockets it and decides that the new memories of Elvis, this time with his proper family, are better than the ones he had before.

\---

That evening, after they’ve finished Kie’s homemade burgers and had at least three beers each, he boldly suggests skinny dipping in the lake. He’s only half surprised when they all agree.

‘You know how you said the road trip was the best idea you’ve ever had? Well, this is definitely the worst.’ Kie informs him from where she’s standing next to him. There’s a weird kind of tension in the air and he refuses to even so much as glance over at her in case she tells him off for looking or something.

(Although it’s not like he hasn’t seen it all before, he reminds himself, his mind flickering back to that night not so long ago when she’d barged into the Chateau, her top and shorts covered in beer after a kegger, and stripped down to get changed. If she hadn’t made so much noise, he doesn’t think he would have even realised she was there and wouldn’t have gone into John B’s room to see what was going on. She’d been in a small pair of panties and nothing else and they’d both frozen in shock before she’d screamed at him to get out. They’d not spoken about it afterwards and had instead chosen to ignore that it had even happened).

_Shit, shut up JJ._

‘Ok, everyone ready?’ Sarah giggles from somewhere to his right.

‘Fuck yeah! On the count of 3?’

Pope starts counting, ‘1…2…’ He feels Kie’s hand link with his so he pulls her with him as he jumps off the dock and into the lake.

‘Fucking hell JJ, it was one more number!’ She shoves him as they both resurface, but she’s also grinning so he doesn’t take it to heart. He hears more shouting and whooping and then 3 more splashes to indicate that they’re all now in the water.

‘Ah fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!’

‘It’s fucking freezing!’

‘I genuinely think my balls have dropped off, I am childless forever more.’

To be fair it is freezing, he can hear Kie’s teeth clattering together from his left and it’s taking all his willpower to not clamber straight back out and head to the house for a hot shower - but no one ever said the Maybank’s were quitters and he won’t be the first one to leave the lake.

‘Ah fuck this.’ Kie manages to grind out, ‘I’m getting out. I think I’ve lost all my toes to the bottom of the lake from frostbite.’

‘Me too.’ Sarah nods semi-robotically, gritting her teeth as she swims over, ‘you three need to turn around. I know you may have seen girls naked in some form or another over the years but I would still like to preserve some modesty.’

JJ immediately propels himself around, Pope doing the same to his left and John B to his right.

‘Well I know I have,’ he raises his voice slightly so they can all hear him, ‘not sure the same can be said for Pope.’ His head is dunked under a second later and then all three of the boys are wrestling in the water.

‘Wait!’ John B suddenly calls out, causing JJ to stop from where he’s about to put him in a headlock. ‘Those little...’

JJ watches as John B swims over to the deck and glances around.

‘Are you looking for these?’ JJ’s attention is diverted to where Kie and Sarah are standing in the entrance to the house, towels now wrapped round themselves and laughing, the boys’ clothes in their hands. They disappear inside a moment later.

‘Those fuckers stole our clothes.’ JJ has to laugh at how outraged John B sounds. He swims over to the deck before calling out, ‘Race you to the house!’ and then he’s pulling himself up and out the lake and sprinting across the lawn, not checking to see how close the other two are behind him. He makes it to the one spare bathroom first so he counts that as a win.

Half an hour later, showered, clothed and warmed up, he throws himself down on one half of the couch and has only just made himself comfortable when Kie crawls over, lifts his arm up and burrows into his side. He looks down at her, eyebrows raised, as she too gets comfy.

‘What? Don’t look at me like that. You’re like a human radiator JJ, I swear, and right now I can’t get warm which, by the way, is your fault so you owe me one.’

‘I’m not sure...’ He trails off as she shivers, wrapping his arm around her more tightly and pulling the blanket closer too.

‘Thanks.’ She smiles up at him from under the cover, at which point he swears his heart skips a beat and all he can think is _fuck_.

He’s the last one standing by the end of the movie. Pope heads to bed long before the rest of them, claiming that upstairs is a lot warmer. John B and Sarah are next, admitting defeat after Sarah jolts herself awake for the third time in a row. It’s only when the credits are rolling does he realise that Kie’s fallen asleep on his shoulder.

‘Kie? Kie?’

‘Hmm?’ Her eyes open for a moment before flickering back closed. He contemplates carrying her upstairs for a split second before deciding that she would probably eat him alive so shakes her gently and says her name again instead.

‘Kie? C’mon. The movie’s finished, it’s time to go to bed.’

‘But I’m so warm.’ She mumbles, snuggling down further into his side.

‘Kie.’

‘Ok, ok.’ She sighs, moves enough so he can stand and then holds out her hands so he can pull her up. He manages to get them both, plus her blanket, upstairs without injury before making sure she’s settled.

‘Night Kie.’ He turns to head back to his own room but she calls out to stop him.

‘Will you stay with me JJ?’ He looks down at her, half asleep once again and covered in duvets and blankets, ‘Please. I was so warm and...’ She trails off and he would have thought she’d gone back to sleep if she hadn’t patted the side of the bed next to her a moment later. He sighs and gives in, crawling over her and sliding down under the covers before throwing his arm around her. They’ve lain like this before but never anywhere but the Chateau and usually if one, or both, of them have had a nightmare.

Somehow this time it feels different.

‘Night JJ.’ She cuts across his thoughts before they spiral out of control.

‘Night Kie.’

\---

He wakes up to the sound of rain hitting the windows and Kie’s gentle breathing against his neck. He blinks through the bleariness and finds that, at some point in the night, he had rolled onto his back and Kie must have followed him. She’s lying on her side with her arm wrapped around his middle, her face buried in his shoulder, curls everywhere and her legs tangled with his. He likes it when it’s like this, just the two of them, in the quiet before whatever the day brings. She feels like home, he realises, and he’s still not sure what he’s going to do when she’s miles away from him on the other side of the world. He chooses not to continue with that thought, instead he runs a hand over his face, pulls his arm gently out from under her and untangles his legs from hers. She mutters something incomprehensible before rolling over and hugging the pillow instead, he laughs quietly to himself as he slips quietly from the room.

He finds John B alone downstairs, back door thrown open despite the rain that’s pouring down, and coffee ready-made. He pours himself a cup, black and strong, and goes to sit next to his friend in the doorway. There’s nothing but the sound of rain and a hint of birdsong for a few minutes before, ‘So, you and Kie huh?’

He groans and starts to wish he’d just stayed in bed.

‘We’ve been through this JB. We’re just friends. She was shivering last night and asked me to stay and keep her warm, you would have done the exact same thing.’

John B nods, accepting the words, as JJ sips his coffee, the sound of footsteps on the stairs stopping the conversation from continuing further.

‘Morning boys!’ Sarah comes to sit between them, cup of coffee also in hand.

‘Honestly, how are you so fucking awake in the morning? Do you take a pill or something?’ She pinches him lightly on the arm. ‘Said with love and respect, of course Sarah, love and respect.’

John B bursts out laughing as JJ parrots one of the phrases she often uses on him back to her.

She shakes her head but matches his grin, ‘I’m just super happy to be here right now! I mean, look at this view,’ she indicates out with her left hand, narrowly missing hitting John B in the head, ‘I’m on a really great road trip with my boyfriend and all my best friends. Why shouldn’t I be wide awake?’

‘Oh no,’ Kie appears from behind them with a blanket draped over her shoulders, still looking half asleep and clutching her own coffee, ‘who gave Sarah caffeine this early?’ He smiles as she settles down on the other side of him, tilting her head to rest on his shoulder and closes her eyes. ‘I guess it had to rain at some point.’ He feels her breathe in deeply, ‘I think I’m in love with this house too.’

Sarah laughs and suggests that they stay indoors today, ‘There are plenty of movies to watch or we could play board games or pool, and we’ve got food and drinks so we’re pretty much set.’

‘Sure,’ JJ shrugs, dislodging Kie from his shoulder who pouts but stands up and heads back inside, ‘sounds good to me.’

He stays there, long after the others have got up to grab breakfast or shower or whatever they’ve gone to do, taking in the sounds and smell of the rain and the strange, almost unknown, feeling of peace.

\---

They end up staying in Memphis for another couple of weeks, making the most of the house and everything that the city has to offer.

They all agree on a Beale Street bar crawl one night after the success of the one in Nashville. JJ finds himself being distracted by Kie once again during the evening. His gut even twists slightly when she starts dancing with a random guy, but then she’s saying something that causes him to walk away and beckoning to the rest of them to join her from across the room instead. He overhears Sarah asking her about it later and she responds by saying she’s there to spend time with her friends, not a random hook up. He smiles into his drink and tries not to think about the reason why.

Pope and Kie find both a Civil Rights and a Rock n Soul museum in the city which he suffers through for his friends once again. He still has to go at his own pace and can only pay attention for so long but he finds he’s beginning not to mind so much the more he gets used to it.

Pope pulls him aside as they’re heading back to the house that evening and asks, ‘Do you think maybe you have slight ADHD as well as being dyslexic?’

‘Pope.’ He groans, ‘Don’t try and find more things wrong with me.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with you JJ,’ Pope sighs, ‘it would actually explain a lot. Didn’t you ever get diagnosed?’

His eyebrows shoot up of their own accord, ‘You do remember who my sole guardian was, right? Luke Maybank avoids hospitals even more than he avoids police stations.’

To his credit, Pope does drop it after that.

He suggests Sun Studio one morning when they’re all wondering what to do with the day. They book a tour and then take great delight in re-enacting various famous photographs taken there. He’s entirely positive that their group of 5 have more fun than anyone else that’s ever visited and scrawls something in the guest book saying as such.

At one point, someone mentions visiting the zoo but Kie quickly shuts that idea down by saying that she refuses to partake in animal cruelty by paying to see them in cages. Instead they all spend an afternoon wandering the Botanical gardens in the sun, which goes fine until John B challenges him to a tree climbing contest. They make it a quarter of the way to the top before a ranger comes into view and spots them, at which point they have to race back down and all of them sprint out of the park before they’re caught.

One afternoon John B says that an Escape Room might be fun, but JJ’s not sure if he can deal with being locked in one space for a period of time, so suggests a tour of Elmwood Cemetery instead. About halfway through he wishes he’d agreed to the Escape Room just for some sort of thrill (he thinks that no ghost will ever be as terrifying as what he dealt with growing up) but it soon picks up when John B starts screaming after he thinks he sees something and Pope joins in. Kie takes great delight in telling them it was just a shadow but he notices that from that point on Sarah’s hand never leaves John B’s, and Kie manages to walk in the middle of the group so she’s surrounded at all times.

‘C’mon Kie, you can’t be scared?’ He whispers at one point, dropping behind so they’re both now at the back of the group.

‘I’m not.’ She whispers back, ‘I just don’t want to tread on any snakes that might be lurking and I’m more likely not to when I’m in the middle, someone will do it from around me instead.’

He nods, thinking back to that night in the OBX when they were searching for the gold and the fact that she’d been the one to opt to head into the crypt to retrieve the parcel from Big John. She hadn’t been scared then either, but he does remember her reaction to the snake.

‘Right,’ He pauses, ‘or you could just bark at it? Everyone knows they’re scared of dogs.’

She laughs, walking faster to catch up with the rest of the group, ‘Shut up JJ.’

Mostly though, they came for Graceland and now that’s ticked off the list, they spend most of their time at the house. Eventually this too comes to an end when Kie gets an email from the owners to say that someone else has booked it from the following Monday. They agree to Jackson, Mississippi as their next stop over their final breakfast in the house, bags already packed and loaded.

‘So it looks like you’ll be celebrating your birthday in Jackson, Kie.’ Sarah announces. ‘We’ll have to find somewhere decent to celebrate.’

‘Don’t you worry about that.’ JJ throws his arm around Kie’s shoulders, winking to the others. ‘As the last Pogue to officially turn 21, we’ll make it one to remember!’

John B raises his glass, indicating for the others to do the same, ‘To Jackson!’

JJ quickly follows suit and clinks his glass against the others’, ‘To Jackson!’

**Author's Note:**

> argh, ok lemme know what you think!  
> (also over on [tumblr](https://holley--golightly.tumblr.com/) if you wanna come say hi)


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